The Silver Lining of Hurricane Ike (for me anyway!)

I found out last Thursday that one of my blogging buddies, Jayme, from down near Houston was evacuating to get away from Hurricane Ike. And where, oh where, do you think she and her family evacuated to? My little town, that's where! We were able to meet Friday for lunch. Here we are at Applebee's, just finishing up. And if you read my previous post, you'll remember I mentioned a shirt that I will never, ever, ever wear again because I've now seen this picture and come to realize that my honkin' arms are ginormous and probably shouldn't see the light of day again!! I mean, hel-lo! I really must speak to Randey about letting me leave the house dressed like this. He should know better (ha!). Anywho, lunch was great fun - Jayme and I seemed to be able to talk like we'd known each other for ages! Then we did some shopping together. You all know how I hate shopping, right? But...I'm a good friend so I soldiered on along through store after store in order to show an out-of-towner a good time when they're visiting our fair little hamlet. Oh the sacrifices I make for others...(heavy sigh). Here's Jayme at Ross. We found these baskets and, for some reason, we both thought they were quite funny. They're "labeled". Wonder if the basket police will come take you away if they find you've put "books" in the "stuff" basket or vice-versa? And what's with that "laundry" basket? Laundry for who? Little, bitty, tiny smurf-like people? Here's Jayme and I at On the Border the next day. Yes. We enjoyed lunch a couple of times. So sue us. I have to say, I really enjoyed lunch this day. I luvs me some Mexican food, yessir I do. I love it so much, in fact, that I really, really need to just keep clear of it or I'll undo all the good I've done with Weight Watchers these past four months. lol Cheese and onion enchiladas..... ahhhhhhhhh. Here's a picture of Jayme's daughter, Saira, playing Randey's X-Box (and that's a whole other story we'll call The X-Box Debacle. I'll tell you about that at a later time). Jayme brought Saira over to our house when she came over to use the computer. Saira is a perfectly charming little child with the most wonderful accent and speech patterns. If you could hear her in person, you'd know what I mean. I really enjoyed talking with her. She's great. I also met Jayme's husband Chad and her son Ryan (who has perfect teeth, just let me say that. I know, it's a weird thing to mention, but his teeth were that good! lol). I know that Hurricane Ike was not a happy event by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm grateful that it allowed me to meet Jayme and her family in person. That's my little "silver lining" for this particular natural disaster. By the way, her house and property sustained very little damage by all accounts, although they are still without power and water, etc. Their little town did take a huge hit and I know it'll be a long road ahead of them before they are anywhere near normal again. Keep them all in your thoughts and prayers, if you would.
Here's what else I've been up to. Last year, my daughter-in-law Jodie, decided to do a fall themed tree to celebrate Autumn. This year, I decided to do one, too. What do you think of it?
Here's a full shot of the room. As you can see, it's a small tree. Just enough to make the room glow at night. I love it. Just looking at it puts me in a better frame of mind (geez...does that mean I'm easily influenced? Yeah. Probably. That's okay, though...I can deal with that knowledge. lol).
As some of you know (and thank you so much for your kind words about it!) Friday was my birthday. My son Kaleb, got me this:
House, Season Four! Yay! I love that show. My daughter got me a pair of sandals and a kitchen clock, both of which I need to take pictures of. I liked the clock so much, I hung it up right away and then forgot to snap a photo of it when I was preparing for this post! I'll fix that soon.
Then I got this in the mail yesterday from Annie. I was so touched by her kindness. I was sort of pouting about how I didn't hear from either of my parents on my birthday and was feeling kind of down about it when Randey walked in carrying the mail. Thank you, Annie. Talk about great timing. (I should clarify that I didn't really expect to hear from my parents on my birthday. My mom and I have issues and my dad's memory isn't what it used to be so not having either of them call was not a surprise. I was just being moody about it, that's all!) Anyway, I appreciate the gift and will get good use out of the book, I'm sure.
This is what I woke up to Friday morning:
Roses, a card and a gift. I was kind of surprised because the laptop was our birthday present to each other (Randey's birthday is 6 days after mine). But oh man, aren't these flowers pretty? I love them. And the card was just wonderful, too. By the way, the card says "Happy Birthday Sissy" because everyone in my whole entire family calls me Sissy, including my husband. That's because we were introduced to each other by my sister and his brother, who are married to each other. If Randey ever called me "Kari", I wouldn't know who he was talking to. lol Just goes to show you, people...you can get used to being called darn near anything. I've been called "Sissy" for so long, it doesn't even phase me anymore. :)
Want to know what was in the package from Randey? This thing:

A Jim Shore Halloween cat. I adore this cat. It's so perfect for this time of year and just makes me happy to look at it. I discovered Jim Shore stuff last year. I don't like everything out there that's made by him, but certain things just really appeal to me, for some reason. Like some of the cats. The ones with words like "freedom", "patience", "vigilance" and "curiosity". Love them! I also have a little chihuahua (in honor of Sydney the Wonder Dog, of course!) and a Jiminy Cricket with the words "Let your conscience be your guide!", a saying I've long been fond of, across the bottom of it and a Little Red Riding Hood "Granny" figure. I get a lot of pleasure from just looking at those figures. Don't know why, so don't ask. lol Anywho, my beloved daughter-in-law Jodie, knows of my love of some things Jim Shore. So...being the great gift-giver that she is, she found this to send me (and yeah, I just know she was the one responsible...Nick would have bought me a Star Wars thing instead! ha!) by the way, I'd have loved a Star Wars thing, too! Nick does know his mother pretty well. lol :
Isn't this witch and cat adorable? And doesn't it just put you in the mood for autumn and Halloween and cooler weather??? I love it. I don't think I'd actually seen this figure before. It's totally cool and I'm so glad she picked it out. (Check out the face on the broom. Cracks me up!) But the absolute most awesomely wonderful Jim Shore item ever made is this:
I had actually seen this in a Hallmark store here in town and came so close to buying it for myself. But I didn't. I've been spending way too much money on just "me" lately so I talked myself out of it. (See? I can exercise self control occasionally!) Then I received it from Jodie and Nick. Talk about being all smiles!!! I have spent more time just staring at this beautiful cornucopia. All the little details, the colors, the workmanship. I, quite simply, love love love this thing. Click on the picture to enlarge. You'll see what I mean. It's just darn cool to look at. Thank so much Jodie, Nick and Kara. I'm totally pleased with these two things. You spent too much, of course, but well heck...I'm thrilled with them anyway. Thank you guys! And thanks also to Susan, my BFF, for the gift card. I'll let you know what I end up getting with it. Decisions, decisions.

I guess that's about it for today. I have my weigh in tomorrow at my Weight Watchers meeting. I'm tired of agonizing over it, though. I've decided to take a totally radical approach this week. I'm gonna wear jeans and a heavier shirt and I might even leave my shoes on when I hop my butt up on that dreaded, evil weight measuring device those people call "scales". I know it'll make those scales say I've gained at least 3 pounds, but just think of how virtuous I'll feel next week when I wear my normal (and not nearly as heavy!) regular clothes. Yeah, so it's cheating. I don't care. I need to shake things up a bit and this seems like a perfectly harmless way to do that. I hope to get around to some blogs again soon. I've read a few, but need to go back and leave a comment now. But first I have to cook dinner for my dearly beloved. He's headed out of town Thursday so it's looking good for dinner out tomorrow night. But tonight, it's just me, slaving away in the kitchen (another heavy sigh). See you guys tomorrow!

Tropic Thunder, My Baby's Movin' on Up, More Art, Maddy's Masterpiece and a Plea for Recipes!

It's been a hectic weekend. I'm on another one of my "gotta get organized" kicks so naturally, everything in the house is a total mess. lol What I wouldn't give for more storage in this house!! Geez. Seems like I'm constantly shifting stuff from one pile to another and not making any progress whatsoever. But that's a whole other story. I'd just as soon not think about it right now so I'll move along, okay? :)
Randey and I saw Tropic Thunder Friday evening. It was offensive on so many levels, it was stupid, it was gross, it was sometimes over-the-top bizarre...and man, did we love it! I haven't laughed so hard in a theater since we saw Blades of Glory. Robert Downey, Jr. is pure genius. I'm normally not too impressed with anyone who makes their living in Hollywood, but this guy is an exception. I loved him in Ironman, I loved him in Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang and I totally and completely adored him in this movie. Nobody plays a character better and nobody pokes fun at himself better, either. Genius, I tell you, genius. Another stand out performance in this movie was that of Tom Cruise. Yeah, I know. I stopped diggin' Tom Cruise right about the time he kicked Nicole to the curb and started couch jumping over Katie. But his performance in this movie almost made me like him again. Almost. (He played a great role, but afterwards, well - he's still Tom Cruise - couch-pounding maniac.) If you can enjoy a whole lot of un-politically correct humor, this movie is for you. If you're easily offended, skip it. And there you have it. Another movie review from me. Woo-hoo! lol
Check out Jacob, my baby. He was headed to a job interview so he broke down and dressed in something other than a t-shirt and plaid shorts. It worked for him, too. He got the job and has gone from working fast food to working in retail sales. He's already planning on how to spend the big bucks he'll be making. lol
Remember our fetish for cheap art? Well, check this out:
It's a watercolor painting of an actual windmill. It's the Berney Arms Mill in Norfolk, U.K. It actually has a sticker on the back with the name of the artist and the artist's contact information. I googled the name of the mill and found several webpages with information regarding the origin and the current use of the mill. I think it's a beautiful little watercolor and, at $3 (sorry, Kat, I can't help myself - I have to tell how little we paid! lol), an absolute steal.

When Maddy Moose (our oldest granddaughter) was visiting earlier this month, she and I went to Granbury and painted ceramics together. As you can see, Maddy's granny (moi) has not found her calling when it comes to painting these things. Who knew the brush strokes would show up so much??? Here's the front of my piece:
And here's the back:
Now here's Maddy's. This kid is so creative and so free-spirited, it was a given that I would love her piece. Here's the front of hers:
And here's the back:
I am kicking my own butt for not having her do two pieces so that I could keep one. What was I thinking??? Well, now I know better. Next time around, Moose will be painting something for herself and something for her granny. lol

One more thing. I haven't received many recipes yet for the "Finding a Weigh Out of Fat" post coming up this Wednesday. You only have a day or two to get those to me!! If you have one, please e-mail me with it ASAP (or type it into a comment). Come on, guys! Share what you've got and help the rest of us out! If we're going to lose weight together, we need to do it all together. Including helping each other out in the kitchen (metaphorically, anyway. You'll have to find your own helpers to do the dishes. lol).

Childhood Reminders, More Art Attack (I'm so ashamed) and the REAL fine art in our home...

From the time I was 3 years old until I was 6, we lived in Japan. My dad was in the Air Force and that's where we were stationed at that time. I don't remember much really, except the earthquakes, my first boyfriend (slobber faced Mark, whom I loved with all my kindergartner's heart) and my dad making me ride my bike without my trusty training wheels (really think he could have been a little more sympathetic to my fear on this subject and a little less snarky). I wish I had retained more of the memories from our time overseas. Even some of the things I think I remember, I'm not sure are accurate. Frustrating. But anyway, last Friday Randey and I went "antiquing". That's what we call it when we go junk shopping. lol We were at a place in Ft. Worth and had just about finished walking through there when Randey spotted this: A Pachinko machine! Talk about sweet childhood memories! We played one of these all the time - my parents even brought one home from Japan when we moved stateside (sure wish I knew what had happened to that one!). I had seen one in another antique place in Benbrook, Texas a couple of months ago and showed it to Randey. But that one was $100, had pieces missing and was no where near in working order. This one, however, was marked $40 and seems to be missing just the "leg" braces and the actual Pachinko steel balls, which you can order on e-bay. I was so excited! We snapped it up, of course. Well, "snap" might not be the perfect word to describe what we did with it because the darn thing weighs a ton! Randey hefted it up and lugged it to the front desk. There. That's more accurate. This machine even came with original paperwork that shows it to be "reconditioned from Pachinko parlor use to home use". The date says it was reconditioned in 1973 and states that the machine was no more than 2 years old at the time of reconditioning. I have no idea what on earth I'm going to do with this beast or where I'm going to put it, but I do know that seeing it has allowed me to recapture a small and fun part of my childhood memories. (*big smile*)

Oh and one other thing we found is this (spotting that Pachinko machine must have brought us good luck!):

Another piece of "art". LOL This one is tiny - probably only about 5 x 7 inches, although the frame, of course, gives it a little more bulk. Kat says I'm not supposed to say how much I pay for art, so I won't tell you what it cost. Well, except to say Randey thinks it was the best $5 he's ever spent on a painting. HA! (Sorry, Kat I couldn't help myself. Buying cheap is just such a thrill for me. lol) So I guess we're still suffering from our art attacks after all. And while we have a lot of fun finding these landscape paintings together, our real art collection comes from our children. Let me show you what I mean...

See this? Jake did this one in 2nd grade and won first place in the Okaloosa County Elementary School Art Competition. I adore this masterpiece.
Jake also writes poetry and won a contest with this poem (you can click on it to enlarge it enough to read what it says). This poem was written when Jake was 13 and was published in a book of poems.
Kaleb's done a little artwork himself. Now I'm not normally a fan of Picasso and his ilk, but I like this one. Kaleb did it I think it 5th or 6th grade. Very cool. Kaleb also did this picture - I believe when he was in 9th grade. I love the intense colors.
Des did this metal rendition of a butterfly in one of her school classes years ago. Des was never one for enjoying crafting or anything so this object is particularly special. It's probably just about the only thing of its kind that she's ever done.
Now we come to Nick's artwork. You have to understand that Nick is my oldest (he's almost 7 years older than Desiree', my second child). When Nick was very young, we moved a lot. It was just him and me and we didn't really have any roots anywhere. Seeing as how we moved so often, I (sadly) don't have a lot of his "art projects" from school. In fact, the only reason I have this piece of art is because my Aunt Ginger saved it (she adored Nick - spoiled him rotten every chance she got and treasured everything about this kid). I'm so grateful that she saved this, Nick's "turkey hands".
Nick, however, is not so grateful. He says it makes him look like he's a tad bit goofy. Here Kaleb and Jacob have their Van Goghs and Picassos and even Des has a metal work that has a certain complexity to it and then there's Nick, with his turkey hands. Listening to him gripe about how I put all their work up together and his ends up looking somewhat "lacking" is actually half the fun, to tell you the truth. Naturally, I think his turkey hands are beautiful! And so will his children some day, when they see his artwork. I display our finest art on this wall, mainly:
My children...artists, every one. That landscape picture fetish Randey and I have is just for funnies. We know the value of real art. How could we not, with examples like this in our home?

We've Had an Art Attack

I've got to tell you guys about this affliction that has struck both Randey and I. It's actually kind of sad and more than just a little embarrassing, but I know I'm going to find some understanding amongst at least one or two other people out there. Maybe. Hopefully. I don't know how it's happened and I don't know why it's happened, I just know it has happened. Somewhere along life's path, Randey and I became strangely enamored with.....landscape art. And not just any landscape art. It has to be cheap or we just don't seem to get the same thrill out of it otherwise. In fact, it's almost like the "cheapness" matters more to us than the beauty of the piece. (And when I say "we" and "us", I mean mainly me. I'll admit it here. Randey has better taste than I do in certain areas and is more willing to shell out a dollar or two for his "finds" than I am). I think the strangest part of the whole thing is that this bizarre longing for cheap, tacky, er...I mean...inexpensive, interesting landscape art struck us both at the same time. Now we're like fiends whenever we're out shopping in junk stores. No landscape art is safe from us. Unless it cost too much, that is. Then it's pretty darn safe from us. We got this painting in South Dakota on our recent vacation. (Yeah. We bought a painting that we then had to manage to get home in one piece without anyone shoving a suitcase through it or something. I told you. We're afflicted.) We paid $15.00 for it and you'd of thought it was a Rembrandt, the way we fawned all over it. lol We got this next one at the Antique Mall in Benbrook, Texas. It was marked $75.00 originally, but was on sale for 75% off, which made it $18.75. Randey just had to have it, even if I thought the price was a little high. (I know, I know. There's cheap and then there's really cheap. I'm really cheap when it comes to stuff like this.) When we took it to the register, though, the lady gave us another 75% off, so we only paid $4.69 for it. I've liked it much better ever since then.
This next one is...well, not so great. It's pretty bad, really. But it was only $2.00 and the frame was another $2.00 - four dollars total, baby. Makes it look better and better (she said with her head dipping in shame at her own cheapness).

This next one rates pretty low on my "Happy I Bought It" scale. Sure, I do kind of like the thing, but Randey paid almost $28.00 for it. I had to remind Randey of the joy that comes with cheap-o shopping after this. Geez. He almost ruined our new hobby for me.
I got this next one in Purcell, Oklahoma. I stopped to shop their Main Street antique stores on my way back from my dad's house a few months ago after he'd been in the hospital. I think it cost about $20, which was waaaaaay too much, but I was feeling weak. I've regretted this purchase ever since I made it.
But not nearly as much as I've regretted this one. Talk about a bad painting. Sure. The stupid thing was another $2 find, but even I have to say that, for once, I should have been a little more concerned with quality. What can I say? I got caught up in the moment. It could happen to anybody. Right? Okay - so maybe not.
Luckily, we're running out of room to display our not-so-fine art. As you can see, I've never met a blank piece of wall that I haven't felt the need to cover.
I'm really sort of hoping we've both played out this painting collecting fetish and won't feel the need to further add to our sad little art collection. Even I'm starting to question our sanity (not to mention our taste!)....

Not enough hours in the day....

Hey everyone! Thought I'd better make the time to do a post before you thought I'd forsaken blogging (again). lol Things around here have been crazy - I got a wild hair and decided to redo our bedroom and Randey got a wild hair and decided that we needed a new car. (My wild hair set us back considerably less than his did!) I've been painting our bedroom for what seems like forever, although I guess the actual painting only took 2 days. I've been adjusting bedding and swapping out blankets and lamps and everything else for about 3 days. And curtains! I can't even begin to discuss curtains right now. Just you wait until I do a post about them, though! Curtain manufacturers are NOT nice and/or smart people. Nor can they measure worth a flip. But we'll talk more on that at a later time. For now, I'll show you what I've been doing. Our room went from this color scheme: to this one:

I'm pretty sure I like it, but it'll take some time to get used to. It feels lighter and cooler than the old look did - and I'm all about feeling cooler. (Have I mentioned my aversion to hot weather???). You can see the new nightstands in this picture, too. See? Not one single ass in sight!

Now on to some serious bragging...I recently won 2, count 'em 2, giveaways. I'm feeling pretty lucky about that - I may just head to Vegas this month (HA!). First, I won Mary's giveaway for naming her "new cat" (I picked the name "Basil", which just struck me as funny for some reason). This is what I got:

I love, love, love the "sailing" bag - I know I'll get some good use out of that and the broaches are just lovely (made my Sarah, Mary's daughter). The white Battenburg lace style cloth in the bottom right corner has actually come in handy already. I managed to buy the world's brightest alarm clock for my side of the bed (hey - it was blue and it matched. Who knew you could land an aircraft with the stupid thing?!). Anyway, at night I drape that cloth over the front of my alarm clock to "mute" the brightness. And (and this is a big one!) it's pretty enough that I can leave it out on my nightstand during the day. Thank you, Mary, for doing this wonderful giveaway and thank you, Sarah, for making the broaches AND for mailing the package!!

Then just last week, I won Lynne's giveaway, which was a copy of this book:

I cannot wait to get busy reading it. I just finished the 3 Stephanie Meyer books (Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse) and I'm starting The Notebook (N. Sparks) that my daughter-in-law gave me for Christmas (I'm lagging behind, I know) and then I will be reading The Book of Bright Ideas. I think I've got lots of good reading ahead of me.
I wanted to share this little item with you guys, too. When we went to Montana last month, Randey's niece (and my friend!) Dawn gave me one of these:

It's a wickless candle burning system called Scentsy. It contains a little light bulb that melts bars of wax as it heats up - the wax, of course, is scented and as it melts, it releases the most wonderful aromas into the air. I've had things like this before, but the wax bars from this company are really quite aromatic and give off a great scent that lasts a good long while. If you're reading this Dawn, I just want to thank you again and tell you I have truly enjoyed my Scentsy!

I also want to thank Jayme for the beautiful 4th of July greeting card she made (shown on the left side of the picture below). I love Jayme's cards. They make me smile everytime I get one and I love keeping them out for company to look at. I also got a sweet card from Lynne when she sent The Book of Bright Ideas to me (pictured center). I love getting cards - nothing says "Hey - I thought about you today" like getting a nice card in the mail. I also got THE cutest card from Joan today (thanks, Joan!) which isn't pictured here because I took this picture last night before I got it (which just goes to show that trying to be efficient doesn't always pay off. I should have waited a day!) lol). I really wish I'd waited now because the card is so funny. I hope to use the picture on a future post soon, though. The third card pictured below is from an anonymous neighbor. This neighbor, whomever she may be, left us this sweet card in our mailbox because she wanted to tell us that she liked the "flag lights" Randey hung on the fence for the 4th of July. She said she thought they looked awesome and she appreciated the effort. How nice is that? It really made our week to read this. Randey was especially pumped up about it - he's the one who put the lights up so he was pleased to know that his efforts had been recognized (by someone outside the house, that is). Sweet neighbor, huh?
Now - I guess I should mention who won my giveaway, shouldn't I? I drew the name on Saturday, the 5th, I just didn't get a chance to post it! I'm so sorry about that. (Note to Self: Never start painting a bedroom until you have everything else caught up and finished.) Anywho - the winner is VEE! Yay, Vee! I'll get your package off in the mail right away! Thank you all for entering and, more importantly, thank you for sharing your lives with me. Blogging has opened up a whole new world - a world that I have enjoyed more than I can possibly say. Which brings me to a point I should have made when I posted about my "Blog-iversary" a week or so ago; thank you, Aunt Sandi for getting me started with blogging. I never, ever would have done it, but for you. I thought it was kind of silly for me to even start a blog, although I sure did enjoy reading yours. And then I did start one and one thing led to another and now look where I am...sticking my nose into dozens of other people's lives on a daily basis and enjoying the fool out of myself while doing it. lol Thanks for getting me started - it's been a blast!

P.S. Thanks to everyone for their kind words about my beautiful son, Nicholas, deploying again. I'm not too good at talking about it while he's gone, though. I do better if I pretend it's just not happening. (Picture me sitting in a corner somewhere with my fingers in my ears, singing "la,la,la,la,la,la" at the top of my lungs - that's what I will be "mentally" doing until he gets back.) But thank you, all the same, for writing of your appreciation of his service. It means the world to us.

Mine isn't a "feature", but this one apparently is....

I was doing a little shopping on Amazon.com the other day, checking nightstand styles for our bedroom. I found one that I sort of liked the looks of, so I investigated further to ascertain its attributes. Here's what Amazon told me about it: Ass? Since when is an ass a feature? Is it giving me a new ass? That might be a good selling point. I mean if they listed me, personally, on Amazon, I'm pretty sure my ass wouldn't make the list of "Kari's Features". But this ass did make it onto a list so it must be special, right? But exactly what kind of ass are we talking about here? A jackass? A big ass? A smart ass? The dreaded...dumbass? This nightstand actually features an ass like it's a good thing so you'd think it'd be an ass worth having, but isn't the likability of an ass a personal preference? Amazon may think it's a perfectly fine ass, but I might hate it when it arrives. And let's face it, if you could return an ass "to sender", wouldn't a lot of us have already sent our gluteus maximus-es back to Ben & Jerry's or McDonald's or Taco Bell or where ever it is we got them from in the first place? No, no, no....take it from me if you haven't already learned it yourself, an ass is just too hard to get rid of. Better to work on the one you've got than to risk getting a worse one. So yeah, I passed on that particular nightstand.
But just wait'll you see what I did pick out (although not from Amazon - didn't want them slipping me a little something extra into my package, if you know what I mean)! The nightstands I got are slim and trim and by all appearances, completely ass-free. Pictures will follow upon their arrival.

P.S. I am so sorry for this post. Even as I write it, I know I shouldn't. I'm punch drunk from painting our bedroom all afternoon. I think I've inhaled too many fumes. Yeah. That's the excuse I'm sticking with...

Allow me to introduce myself....I am

Yep. That's me. Queen O' the Crock Pot! I'm telling you, I have become a maniac in the kitchen since I discovered how to use this thing! (Susan. Stop laughing!) I've made some pulled pork that is just Out.Of.This.World.Yum-O (in my own humble opinion, of course). Last night I made something called Mediterranean Chicken (Randey loved it, I thought it was pretty good and Jacob ate everything on his plate, therefore I will declare this recipe a success, as well). Last week I made Apricot Glazed Pork Roast. (That sounds so fancy, doesn't it?) lol It was mighty tasty, I don't mind telling you. I'm making it again tonight, as a matter of fact. For you guys to understand the total weirdness of me cooking, you'd have to know just exactly how much I despise cooking. I am not a cook. I am an eater. There's a difference. Spending too long in the kitchen trying to create something is sheer torture for me. It's not an area of the house that I feel....what's the word?....competent, yeah, that's it...competent. Most cookbooks may as well be in a foreign language, for all the sense they make to me. However! Crock pot cooking has changed my whole outlook on this cooking thing. I mean really, most crock pot cookbook recipes are practically idiot proof (okay, so I had that one little issue with that one stupid recipe, but let's not get into that). I can throw 75% of our evening meal together by 9:00 in the morning and can kick back and not think about it for the rest of the day. When dinner time rolls around, I only have to do one or two things (like make rice, mash some potatoes, fix a vegetable or something) and dinner is done. Oh yeah, baby...my kind of cooking. Although, I have to admit that the pulled pork recipe does require a little more work about an hour before we eat...I have to actually pull the pork apart and mix in the BBQ stuff. Still, easy work. This kind of cooking makes me as happy as I'll ever be inside a kitchen. So anywho, rather than throw in 3 or 4 recipes at a time, I'll just post one now and then one later, etc., etc.. I'll give you the Apricot Glazed Pork Roast today. Here goes:

1 can (10 1/2 ounces) condensed chicken broth
1 jar (18 ounces) apricot preserves
1 large onion, chopped (I actually slice my onion because
I have a kid who would rather stick needles under his fingernails than voluntarily eat an onion. He can pick the sliced ones out easier than if I chopped them!)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 (3 1/2 to 4 pound) boneless pork loin roast

1. Mix broth, preserves, onion and mustard in the crock pot. Cut pork roast to fit and add to the crock pot also.
2. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours or on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours or until done.

Tip: For thicker sauce, mix together 2 tablespoons cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water. Remove pork from crock pot. Stir cornstarch mixture into cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for 10 minutes or until mixture boils and thickens.

This recipe came out sooooo tasty last week. I can't remember what I served with it then, but tonight I'll add some green beans and potatoes au gratin (thank you very much Betty Crocker Deluxe Potatoes Loaded Au Gratin in a box). Man. Who'd have thought I'd ever sit around planning dinner like this? (Again, stop laughing, Susan!).
Okay, cooking time is over...on to other things. I decided I needed a new front door wreath the other day. My old one wasn't looking springy or fresh. I headed to Hobby Lobby, bought a little this and a little that and here's what I came up with: I need to move some stuff around on it. Too much pink located on the right hand side, not enough fluff on the top left but, generally, I like how it turned out. It's springy/early summer looking and that's what I was aiming for. Now check out this:How cool is this cabinet? Randey and I were at the Benbrook Antique Mall (betcha Teresa knows where that's at!) a few weeks ago and came across this. The price was great! Okay, so maybe the price was average, but it looked great so we snapped it up. I haven't really spent any time setting up the display items inside of it yet. The top where it says "telephone" can be replaced (it's just printed on paper and put inside the glass). I think I'll print up something using a Star Wars style font and put it in there instead of the word "telephone". Maybe I'll print up the word "hyperlink" or "hologram" (Star Wars lingo for "telephone". lol). I haven't decided. Next, get a load of this:My sister, Sherri, sent this to me. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find something with the word "Granny" on it? Everything says "Grandma" or "Nana". What up wid dat? My granddaughter (the one that can talk, that is!) calls me Granny. Anyway, the funny thing is, I saw this Jim Shore statue - well, not this one, but you know what I mean - about 3 or 4 weeks ago when we were in Canton, Texas. A few days after I saw it, I talked to Sherri and she asked me if I'd seen it. She, herself, had spied it when she was out shopping somewhere and it caught her eye because of the word "Granny". I thought it was so funny that we'd both seen it at about the same time. I laughed and told her that I'd shown it to Randey, giving him a hint at how much I liked it, but he didn't seem fazed by my hint (he says now that he was just waiting for the right moment! lol). I had to laugh when I opened the box from her. I truly did like this thing when I saw it and knew I'd have to have it sooner or later. 'Course, she told me that her husband said the wolf disguised as Granny was my "true self coming out", but I can rise above that sort of petty talk and see it for the sweet thing it was meant to be. lolololol
Now for some kind of sad news...see Blu Boy, our chow-chow? Isn't he a beauty? This picture was taken back in September, I think. Notice how pretty his coat looks?Yeah. Well. After wintertime, his coat isn't quite so shapely. It's usually thick, ragged, and falling out all over (although it seems to aim mainly for my off-white carpet most of the time). Every year, we get him shaved because of that. He hates it for the first couple of weeks and we have to keep him coated with sunscreen (SPF 50!), but once it starts growing back in, his coat is as soft and silky as can be. Unfortunately, Blu doesn't take too well to the shaving thing. In fact, he's decidedly unfriendly about the whole process. The vet routinely sedates him for these ordeals (it's better for him...he gets entirely too stressed during his grooming!). Anyway, yesterday was that time of year for him. Randey took him in and stayed with him until they put him under. Apparently, they didn't figure up the dosage correctly or they waited too long before they started trimming because just before the procedure was over, Blu started waking up. And he wasn't happy. They'd gotten just about everything shaved....except his feet and under his chin. Now look at the poor thing....He looks like he's wearing boots. The groomers opted to give us a discounted price for the grooming rather than attempt to trim his paws. Blu's attitude was the deciding factor. He let them know that he was F-I-N-I-S-H-E-D with them and was ready to part company. So this is how he looks. I guess we'll get used to his boots. I'm sure we will. It's better than last year, actually. Last year, they insisted on doing the "lion" cut. They left his mane, which was okay, but they also left this giant ball of fur on the end of his tail. Every time he'd see his tail wagging out of the corner of his eye, he'd jump sideways, thinking something was sneaking up on him. lol Poor Blu Boy. Even Sydney the Wonder Dog has been looking at him with pity today....